Ireland’s government plans to allow thousands of people who were illegally adopted to have the right to inherit from both their parents and the people incorrectly listed as their parents on their birth certificates, the Irish times reports.

The Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman has published legislation that will allow adopted people access to their full birth certificate and other information for the first time. The Birth Information and Tracing Bill also seeks to resolve issues relating to succession law that arise from illegal adoptions.

In 2018, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, identified 126 cases of births registered illegally between 1946 and 1969 in the files of the former adoption society, St Patrick’s Guild. The people named on the birth certificates were not the child’s birth parents.

Thousands of potentially incorrect registrations or illegal adoptions

Since then, a further 25 cases have been identified. A review of samples of illegal adoptions submitted to the Government in 2021 found that some 5,500 to 20,000 other files have indications of potentially incorrect registrations or illegal adoptions.

A lawful adoption order severs parental rights and responsibilities with the birth parents, creating them with the adoptive parents, including inheritance rights.

A Department of Children statement said that an Interdepartmental Group on Incorrect Birth Registrations has that the Succession Act be amended. This would mean that anyone affected by incorrect birth registration should have the right to inherit with their birth parents and those whose name is on the birth certificate.

Transactions not invalidated

The Government also plans a provision that offers assurance that any transaction entered into by someone that was illegally adopted will not be invalidated because their birth was incorrectly registered.

Susan Lohan, the co-founder of the Adoption Rights Alliance, has said that Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) will be “overwhelmed” with applications for birth information and tracing services once the new law allowing greater access to records comes into force.

At present, there are waiting times of up to two years for information to be accessed and Ms Lohan fears that the agencies will not be able to meet the expected level of demand, even with the €4 million in extra funding and plans for more staffing.

The Department of Children said that many of the delays and blockages currently experienced relate to legal impediments on the sharing of information that the Bill should remove so that services can be delivered in a timely manner.

At the start of 2021, Tusla had some 800 people waiting for the information and tracing service and 116 full-time equivalent staff working on the service, while the AAI has about 300 people waiting on services.

Finders International Ireland trace missing beneficiaries to estates, properties and assets. To find out more, you can visit our website. Alternatively, you can email [email protected] or telephone +353 (0)1 5676940